It's been a busy August, with visits from family and friends. Not a lot of time for painting or sketching. So here's one of the few simple sketches I did of one of my nieces during a fishing/picnic (mostly picnic, really...) outing we did some days ago to beautiful Douro river.

I painted this spray bottle for this week's EDM topic. The topic couldn't have been more appropriate to the period I'm going through, for lately, I've been reading about and searching for instructions on how to make your own environmental-friendly, non-toxic cleaners for the house. I found exactly what I wanted at places like UK's Channel 4 and Sew Green. I found several recipes and the one I tried - and is inside this spray bottle - is the simplest of all: water plus vinegar (5:1). With its mildly acidic nature, vinegar is a natural disinfectant that eliminates bacteria and mold, it works as a stain remover and reduces lime deposits. Hence, a perfect substitute for ammonia-based cleaners, such as most glass cleaners. Unlike these, our home-made water-vinegar mixture does not produce irritating fumes that are a major eye irritant.

The truth is, most conventional commercial cleaning products are not only environmentally unfriendly but also toxic. Common chemicals in cleaning products have been proved to relate with asthma and reproductive problems, among others. Fortunately there has been an increase of eco-friendly products available on the market in the last years, but they are not an option for us, for they are not sold outside the major urban centres of the country. Plus, they are not cheap.

Although I enjoyed my “research”, the truth is it would have been enough to think a bit to arrive to this home-made recipe. In fact, I've always used it to clean the refrigerator – as my mother does and my grandmothers did, as well as many other people I know. So, if this is good enough to clean the place where we keep our food, it means it is efficient and harmless to our health. Then, it should be too, for other less noble cleaning purposes. So for now on, there will be a ban on most conventional cleaners around the house, as I try new recipes (e.g., adding add some nice perfume for the floors).

Discovery made, I went to tell the lady we have helping us with the housekeeping, so that she would know what the new bottles are all about. I was prepared for a few surprised/suspicious/there-she-comes-again looks. After all, she already had to get used to some of our “peculiarities”, like using no “chemiicals in the vegetable garden, homeschooling... But, surprise, surprise – the reaction was totally the opposite: “Oh, right! I've been wanting to tell you, but I keep forgetting, I'm using that too to clean my windows at home, it works really well!” How about this, for a little lesson on modesty?... Of course, I was curious to know where did she get the idea from. Well, she used to work at the butcher's shop of one of the major supermarkets of our town and lately, this was the only cleaning product allowed for cleaning their working surfaces. I'll surely be buying there more of our food...

Just to finish this already long post, I'm really happy with my home-made glass-cleaner. Do try it and don't be afraid of the smell, it vanishes in seconds. My older daughter was thrilled about it too (she likes making things) and made the label for the bottle: a bowl with vinegar (yellow) and water (blue). Then she decided to add more colours...

It's been two weeks and a half without internet at home and do I have heavy catching up to do! Although it is a real nuisance, I have to confess there are some advantages on being logged out, such as being able to better concentrate on my work, or spending more of my free time reading, crafting and painting. Another good thing is coming back to great surprises like finding out that my art journal was granted an Inspirational Award! Thank you, Designing Fairy, I am so honoured! Now, as an award winner, I can nominate five other blogs that “inspire others through their words and actions. With a positive attitude, and an uplifting spirit these bloggers make the blogosphere a better place, and encourage others to do the same. Obviously, Designing Fairy would be on top of the list, but since she already won one, I'll list another five:

Time and a Word is a beautiful place where you'll find amazing photographs and inspiring words

And these are the places where I'm going right away, to see what's been going on all this time. Go there and visit them too, I'm sure you will not regret it (after finishing this post, I went to visit Time and a Word to find out it is closing down. It's owner, Icarus, is going through a tough phase in his life, so there's one more reason to go there and leave a word of encouragement).
The picture shows a recent page from my illustrated journal.